Free financial calculators for NAFCU members.

News

Camp tackling tax extenders, eyes broad tax reform

Dave Camp

March 26, 2014 – House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., announced his plan in a letter to panel members Monday to move policy by policy to determine which tax extenders should be made permanent in a move toward broad tax reform.

“I think we can all agree that a short extension of tax policies is no way to legislate and is even worse for the families and businesses who utilize those tax benefits,” Camp wrote. “Moreover, it further confuses the debate as to what the real revenue baseline is. It is time for clarity in both policy and baseline.”

Camp plans to begin his work on the extenders at the beginning of April by having his committee hold meetings with the Joint Committee on Taxation, hold public hearings on specific portions of the bill and begin moving legislation through the committee that paves the way for broader tax reform.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., announced last month his plans to address a package of the expired tax extenders as a “bridge to broader reform.”

NAFCU continues to hear from lawmakers that credit unions’ exemption from federal corporate income tax is safe. Still, the association will keep a watchful eye on other changes that may have an impact on credit unions, including through action on the expired tax extenders that Wyden, and now Camp, plan to address.

One such expired tax extender was a tax break benefiting underwater homeowners who received principal forgiveness mortgage modifications. This is one of the more than 50 deductions and credits that expired at the close of 2013.